Chapter 051: Bloodshed at the Northern City Wall

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At the gate tower atop the city walls of High Court, a Black Banner soldier, drenched in blood, staggered forward.

“Chieftain! The northern wall has fallen!”

“What?!”

Yang Jie was stunned. He had thought he held the rhythm of this battle in his grasp, but it was as if a basin of icy water had been poured over him in the heart of winter.

“Chieftain!” Beside him, the captain of the personal guard, Scar Johnny, shouted, snapping Yang Jie out of his shock.

“Chieftain! Let me go!”

To take on such peril willingly in a moment of crisis—Scar Johnny's attitude soothed Yang Jie's fraught emotions. This was a perilous task, but siege warfare was unlike any other. Should a section of the wall fall, the entire defense could collapse as quickly as a breached dam.

One-Eye was already holding the most battered section, and Tuqi had been sent to search for copper mines. Only Johnny was free to act.

“Be extremely careful!” Yang Jie’s words were sincere; only he knew that Scar Johnny was a legend, one in a million. There could be no mistake.

“If it’s impossible, save yourself first!”

“I accept!” Johnny clasped his hands and bowed deeply in respect.

He understood that the situation at the northern wall was anything but optimistic. At this critical moment, he had to step forward without hesitation.

“All who can still breathe, follow me! We’ll retake the northern wall!”

In a flash, over twenty ratmen soldiers, both Black Banner and guards, seized their weapons and charged after Johnny toward the northern wall.

...

Fifty meters away, nearly thirty human warriors had already gathered atop the northern wall, their numbers still growing as more climbed up the cloud ladders.

They followed a mighty warrior, clearly the captain of their squad, pushing forward toward the gate.

The two-meter-wide wall could not accommodate many abreast, so these warriors employed the simplest tactic: raising their shields, they shoved the smaller ratmen off the wall.

“All ratmen! Switch to spears!”

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A booming command rallied the disordered Black Banner soldiers—Scar Johnny had arrived, swiftly taking command and directing the counterattack.

From a distance, he spotted a bull-like human warrior leading the charge, unmistakably the enemy captain.

The human captain noticed Johnny as well.

“Hold the formation! Advance with spears!”

One-Eye’s method was simple and effective: if they push with shields, then we push with spears. They couldn’t possibly shield every angle.

On the narrow wall, flashy moves were useless; it was a contest of sheer will, a test of who feared death less.

The Black Banner ratmen discarded their shields and crossbows, each picking up a spear and pressing tightly together as they advanced.

Though the ratmen were weaker than humans, the two-meter-wide wall allowed six ratmen to stand abreast, while the humans could fit no more than four.

“Push forward!”

Over twenty ratmen, shoulder to shoulder, pressed ahead with their spears, quickly halting the human assault.

Both sides were deadlocked in the constricted space. Suddenly, the human captain raised his tower shield and slammed into the ratmen, sending two of them tumbling off the wall.

Seeing the danger, Scar Johnny leapt, using the shoulder of a Black Banner soldier as a springboard. At the apex of his jump, he hurled two spears with all his might at the human captain.

Thud!

The captain never expected such power from a diminutive ratman—the thrown spear pierced his shield, its wooden tip embedded deep, sending a numbing shock up his arm.

All ratmen who had witnessed Johnny’s duels knew that this captain of the guard never relied on fancy moves. Each strike was plain yet deadly precise; One-Eye could string these unadorned moves together seamlessly, forming a relentless assault.

High in the air, Johnny switched the remaining spear to his right hand, aiming for the captain’s neck.

But the captain was no fool. After blocking the first thrown spear, he discarded his shield and instantly noticed the incoming cold gleam.

He seized Johnny’s spear with both hands.

Johnny felt a tremendous force transmitted through the spear, halting his momentum. Instinctively, he used a Black Banner soldier’s shoulder to leap again.

Held at the spear’s tip by the captain, Johnny’s body arched in the air, the spear forming the radius of his motion.

Just as the captain prepared to fling Johnny away, Johnny, suspended midair, tightened his grip on the spear’s end, twisted his waist, and spun with all his strength.

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The captain below felt a fiery pain in his palms, a chill that seemed to freeze every pore. The spear wrenched free from his grip, stabbing downward—he couldn’t dodge in time, and it plunged into his chest, pain lancing straight to his brain.

Johnny seized the moment. As he descended, his feet landed on the captain’s shoulders, hands locked around the man’s neck. The captain, not to be outdone, clamped a hand around Johnny’s throat. Man and rat, eyes bulging, grappled fiercely.

Johnny had fallen into the midst of the human warriors; countless weapons struck him, leaving wounds that bled profusely.

But in the seconds Johnny had gained, another ratman leapt over the crowd, using his comrades as a springboard.

It was Karl, spear in hand. As he landed, he hurled his weapon, its tip plunging into the captain’s throat.

Crunch!

The captain’s strength faltered. Johnny seized his chance, twisting the man’s neck with a final surge.

Amid the cacophony of battle, a barely audible crack echoed across the wall.

The captain’s body collapsed, toppling two human soldiers with him.

“Charge!”

Karl’s squad had kept their eyes fixed on the fight. The moment they saw the captain fall, they shouted in triumph.

With the enemy leader slain, the ratmen’s morale soared. Led by Johnny and Karl, they swept through the human warriors atop the wall like a storm.

Below, Wu Fan’s emotions soared and crashed like a rollercoaster. When he saw General Gadelo’s corpse thrown from the wall by the ratmen, he was dumbfounded.

That was his greatest trump card, the strongest human warrior, the God of War Gadelo—and just like that, he was gone?

“Everyone, assault the northern wall with all you have!”

Wu Fan had lost his composure, desperate for one last gamble. But, being in the rear, he didn’t realize that when General Gadelo fell, the morale of the human soldiers on the wall plummeted to its lowest ebb.

Wu Fan’s actions weren’t wrong, only his perspective was different. Siege warfare was a battle of willpower.

If the warriors who scaled the northern wall were all driven back, their spirit would scatter.

Once the spirit was broken, any hope of retaking the northern wall was utterly lost.